The Trailblazers Motorcycle Club has announced Steve Scott as the fifth of its 2012 Hall of Fame inductees. He joins previously announced inductees Jim McMurren, Eddie Lawson, Bob Sirkegian Sr. and Dan Rouit to be honored at its 68th annual banquet on Saturday, April 14th.
While many motorcycle racers of his era specialized in one certain aspect of the sport, Steve Scott excelled in many different types of events ranging from Scrambles and TT to Short Track, Half-Mile, Motocross, Speedway, Roadracing, the Elsinore Grand Prix and the famed Pikes Peak Hillclimb.
He started riding motorcycles in 1957 on dirt roads in the Santa Monica mountains. Some of his first bikes included Whizzer, Powell and Cushman scooters, a 125cc James, 125cc and 165cc Harley-Davidson Hummers, an old Tiger Cub with plunger suspension and a Honda 50cc C110. In 1963 he bought a 1961 Tiger Cub that he raced at Acton, Spencer Park and El Toro Speedway. That same year he also got into the motorcycle business, working at Honda of Santa Monica.
In 1964 he purchased a used 200cc Bultaco Sherpa S to race ACA Short Tracks at El Toro and earned the #1 plate there for 1964 & ’65. He also rode Ascot 1/2-mile and TTs as an AMA Class C Novice. “It was a good year, and very educational,” said Steve, “I got to eat a lot of dust by the likes of Gene Romero, Malcolm Smith, Jimmy Nicholson, Chuck Palmgren, Paul Conserriere, Glen Hayes, Sonny Nutter and many others.” Steve joined the Dirt Diggers Motorcycle Club that year and in Amateur racing earned the District 37 #2 lightweight plate. His success on the Bultaco got the attention of Doug and Wally Yerkes from Bultaco Western. Not only did they support his racing efforts, but they gave him a job too.
In an age of lightweight racing dominated by Triumph Cubs and Harley Sprints, Steve changed the landscape dramatically in 1965 when he got one of the first 250cc yellow Bultaco Metisse race bikes and earned the #1 District 37 plate. A lot of weeks he would race 5 times or more a week in Scrambles, Short Tracks and TTs at Ascot and El Cajon Speedway. El Cajon had an AMA Class C lightweight and heavyweight championship and Steve ended up high point lightweight rider for the year (Trailblazers Hall of Famer Jack Simmons was high point heavyweight class rider). Steve also went on the road for Bultaco Western that year setting up dealers and doing some racing in Oklahoma and also up at the Sidewinders TT in Portland, Oregon where he finished 1st place in the 250cc class.
In 1966 he decided to stay closer to home and with a lot of help from Bultaco Western, opened Steve’s Bultaco in North Hollywood. Motocross was just getting started in America and Steve raced some of the first events held here, including the Dirt Diggers first race at Hopetown. World MX Champion Torsten Hallman was there, which made it an international event. Steve got the hole shot and lead the race for a while, ultimately finishing 2nd to Hallman and first American rider.
By 1967 Steve had his Class C Expert Competition license and raced Ascot TTs on Larry Wilburn’s 650 Triumph and Larry rode his Bultaco. “I got the better part of that deal!” Steve remembers. In the 1968 Elsinore 100-mile Grand Prix, Steve got 1st overall on a new Bultaco 360cc El Bandito and also raced in a few Speedway races. He sold Steve’s Bultaco in 1969 and went to Spain to race Motocross for Bultaco. But after a couple of months came down with Hepatitis and returned to the United States to recoup.
In 1972 he started manufacturing aftermarket Bultaco parts such as engine gaskets, clutch springs, fork springs and tools, etc…parts that were sometimes hard to find at Bultaco dealers. That year he also raced the Pikes Peak Hillclimb for the first time. On a rainy and cold day, Steve started the race from the last row on a 250cc Bultaco Astro and about halfway up got the lead and held it to the finish. He was protested, but found to be legal and declared the 250cc class winner. He went on to win the 250cc class the next five years in a row.
In 1976 he sold his house and moved to Woodland Park, CO, which is at the base of Pikes Peak. He opened a motorcycle distributing company selling his line of parts and accessories and other motorcycle products to dealers in Colorado and throughout the USA.
Steve won his sixth 250cc pro race at Pikes Peak in 1979, then his long-running string of success at Pikes Peak had a dry spell for a few years with various mechanical problems. But at the 1985 Pikes Peak Hillclimb, American Honda donated 15 new 350cc XRs to be raced in a Jolly Rancher Celebrity Challenge by some previous winners and other invited riders, including Malcolm Smith. Despite the legendary competition that day, Steve took home the winner’s trophy.
Showing his versatility, Steve got into roadracing in the mid-1980s. In 1985 he rode a couple of 6 Hour roadraces with teammate Chuck Lee. “We made a good team,” said Steve. “Chuck was fast and I was ‘fast enough’ at Aspen and we finished 2nd overall in the Superbike class.” Then they scored an overall victory at Pueblo International Raceway at round #12 of the US Endurance Championship. Steve recalled, “Chuck got the holeshot and about 2 hours into the race it started raining. We lapped the field many times, being dirt trackers we liked it sideways!”
Later in the year Steve got invited to the Superbikers race at Carlsbad. His first ride in that all-new type of event did not go great. He rode Rob Muzzy’s 465 Yamaha short tracker and finished 16th in the main. But in 1993 he returned to Carlsbad for another try. He rode a CR500 Honda in the 500 pro class and finished 3rd in his last competitive event to date.
The Trailblazers congratulates Steve Scott for a lifetime of motorcycling excellence. The 68th annual Trailblazers banquet will be held on Saturday, April 14th at the Carson Center in Carson, CA. The evening’s dinner and awards presentations will follow the Tom Cates Memorial Bike Show which will begin at 3:00 pm. Tickets will go on sale in January online at: www.trailblazersmc.com.
